The American Postal Workers Union and the League of Women Voters of Greater Dayton teamed up Wednesday to advocate for voting by mail as the practice has come under attack.
In a March 31 Executive Order, President Donald Trump made sweeping changes to the vote by mail process, calling for the U.S. Postal Service to mail ballots only to verified voters. Opponents claim that's illegal and unnecessary.
Trump has long complained about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and fraud associated with mail ballots, with scant evidence to support those claims.
Christine Corba, executive director for the League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area, said at news conference Wednesday that voting by mail is an important way to increase voter access.
"It has proven to be safe and secure, it's convenient," she said. "It allows people who otherwise might not be able to get to the polls during the regular operating hours to have their voice heard."
The American Postal Workers Union also debuted ads at the news conference that will begin airing in the Dayton region this week. It's part a new, national campaign to promote mail-in voting.
The two 30-second ads show voters of different backgrounds explaining why they choose to vote by mail. The ad ends with the message, “Vote by mail – keep it, protect it, expand it.”
Voting by mail has been used since the Civil War. In fact, the first mail-in ballots cast were by Ohio voters serving in the Union Army in 1864.
In the 2024 general election, about 18 percent of Ohio’s voters cast mail-in ballots, according to the United States Election Assistance Commission.
Nearly 1 in 3 voters cast their vote through the mail in the 2024 General Election, according to the MIT Election Data and Science Lab.
Every state allows some form of absentee voting. Voting by mail is especially popular with those 65 and older.
President Trump himself has repeatedly voted by mail, as recently as a last month during a special election in Florida.
